Baked French Toast with OJ

Mornings are still cool, and there’s nothing better than a nice, warm citrus-y breakfast that takes literally no effort while you’re enjoying that first cup of coffee. This is one of those make-ahead breakfast deals that is just so easy, and so delicious, there is no reason not to give it a go. Truly, I made this little ditty while the soup was simmering on evening.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
• Cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 large eggs
• 12 (1-inch-thick) slices French bread (about 1 pound)

Directions:

1. Combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup; pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

2. Combine rind and next 7 ingredients (rind through eggs); stir with a whisk. Arrange bread slices over sugar and butter in dish; pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350°.

4. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 1/3 cup pecans. The big breakfast eater in our house has not yet developed a taste for nuts, so I didn’t include them. If you do, add them after the butter / sugar mixture and before the bread.
• Instead of a 13 x 9 pan, I used one that was a little shallower (but much cuter!) and just cut one layer of bread a bit thinner.
• If the egg mixture does not come about 3/4 of the way up the pan, mix together another egg and some milk and toss it on in.
• While I didn’t have any on hand, don’t ‘cha think this would be great with some whipped cream?!

Sticky Sweet Apple Pecan Buns

Oh, the strawberries are divine! I was just sure that they needed to go into some dish, and your suggestions have been greatly appreciated. But, for this first go at fresh Fall Strawberries, I once again returned to my general modus operandi and munched them down plain. Well, kind of plain. The strawberries were not gussied up at all, allowing their beautiful sweetness to shine, but the pecan sticky buns that happened to jump on the plate had plenty of gussy in them! Now, don’t get all trash talking to me about diet, as these sticky, very sticky actually, buns were based on a recipe from Cooking Light, meaning you can eat ‘em all without guilt. Right?! I recommend you put these lovely buns in your weekend morning rotation, with or without the Fall strawberries.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter, chilled, plus 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 2 Granny Smith apples (about 12 oz. total)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon peel. Cut the 1/4 cup chilled butter into 1/4-inch pieces. With a pastry blender or your fingers, cut or rub butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in milk all at once; stir just until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until cool, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart pan over medium-low heat, melt remaining 1/2 cup butter. Stir in corn syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour mixture into the bottom of an 8- by 8-inch baking pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over mixture. Peel and core apples and slice as thinly as possible.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead about 15 times, adding just enough flour to keep dough from sticking. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 12-inch square.

4. Distribute apple slices and raisins over dough, leaving a 1-inch border along top edge. Working from the bottom, roll up dough, squeezing as you go; pinch edge to seal. Cut roll crosswise into 9 slices. Lay slices flat over syrup and pecans in pan.

5. Bake until rolls are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Invert a platter over pan and, holding both tightly together, invert again. Lift off pan and let rolls cool about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for lemon zest, but I’m more of an orange girl, so I went with that.
• I omitted the suggested raisins … just a personal preference.
• Not having made this type of thing before, I worried about the very thin dough when rolling it up, but the buns were nice a puffy coming out of the oven.